Sir, - One of your correspondents referred recently to the "heart-breaking ballad" about Kevin Barry.
It is not generally known that the tune of that ballad dates from before 1900, and belongs to the song "Rolling home to Bonnie Scotland, rolling home dear land to thee, etc."
Perhaps one of your readers can tell us who pinched that tune for Kevin Barry's glorification.
It was a shrewd move. The words (about which the least said the better) would scarcely have survived without the music. - Yours, etc.,
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Michael Purser, Strand Road, Killiney, Co Dublin.